5 New Businesses You Can Invest Your Money in Today

When you have the cash — at retirement, for example — but can’t come up with a good business idea to put your money into, every business idea that comes around will always sound cool. But then . . . you invest in it and watch your cash quickly burn to ashes.

Clearly, not all businesses you invest in will stand the test of time. So, entrepreneurs interested in seeing their money grow have to take cautionary steps before investing. In that light, if you’re looking for some solid small businesses that can stand the test of time and will not burn up your retirement savings, here are five businesses to consider (though some will work better than others, depending on the level of training you undergo).

1. Trucking

The trucking business is a highly profitable business with reliable returns on investment for every business owner. Due to the high profitability of this segment, you’ll find the business model a bit competitive and capital intensive. But the mindset that will help you succeed and stay miles ahead of others is to start first as a business owner and second as a trucker.

As a business owner, you will realize that the success of your business does not revolve only around your trucking business; that’s merely a tool to achieve your aim of profitability. The upshot is that all aspects of your trucking business, including legal concerns, customer satisfaction and accounting, are equally as important as keeping your main equipment running.

To be successful in the trucking business, then, prepare yourself for every case-event: Trucks, for example, may be involved in road accidents, which are the most expensive scenarios you can run into.

According to Jimmy Deon, a truck accident lawyer based in Houston, a prepared trucker is able to withstand even the most unpredictable events in business. “When you’re prepared for anything in this business, you’ll instantly set yourself apart from the others in the industry,” Deon says.

2. Drop shipping

Drop shipping is the new ecommerce of millennials. What this requires is that you create a professional ecommerce website using a SaaS platform like Shopify. Your virtual store then helps customers make purchases for items on your website, and all you have to do is forward your buyers’ information to the product seller, which will have the goods shipped to them.

Drop shipping has established a lot of big income earners who started with as little as $1,000. A notable entrepreneur who teaches drop shipping in webinars is Adrian Morrison, who, in an online webinar, shared that the greatest advantage of drop shipping is that there’s no risk for you. “You actually get paid by the customer for an item before you even pay the manufacturer to ship it. You never have to see, touch or ship a product,” Morrison said.

3. An elearning website

Becoming successful in life means that people have to study. While most of the extra learning they need to brush up their skills may not come in the form of a formal education, those students will still pay a premium to acquire knowledge.

You can start a website that helps them acquire that knowledge — either by being a coach yourself or by partnering with experienced coaches and university lecturers. You can even branch away from educational learning and focus on profit-making online tutoring and training.

Some great examples of highly profitable online learning areas you can focus on include:

Programming: In 2015, Apple’s SVP of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, called programming the next level of literacy — and this is 100 percent true.

Fashion, clothing and modeling: Through high-definition tutorial videos created by professional fashion experts, you can build a business around training dressmakers and fashion models.

Cooking: Modern couples may not be interested in the traditional way people learn to cook. This fact creates the need for a business that teaches good culinary skills and is likely to be highly profitable.

Writing: Being a good writer is so profitable that magazines are paying as much as $1,000 an article for the right content.

Digital Marketing: As it becomes more imperative for business owners to acquire some form of digital marketing skills, on online website offering in-depth training on this topic will thrive in this economy.

4. Ecommerce

With ecommerce predicted to top £60 billion in the United Kingdom in 2016, there’s no doubt that ecommerce is one of the biggest business you can invest in. You might start by partnering with companies with products they want to sell. Having them offer discounts will help your online store quickly gain ground and win many customers.

Starting an ecommerce business, however, cannot be done on the side, as this model requires a lot of attention once demand starts to soar as growth kicks in. You also can’t expect to start reaping profits immediately: Even ecommerce giant Amazon took a while to reach profitability.

The first starting point for your ecommerce growth strategy should be a low-cost digital marketing strategy, like guest blogging.

5. Custom-order service business

Custom-order service businesses cater to customers who want their products made for them. While Etsy might be the site that comes to mind for most buyers when they’re in search of custom-made products, capitalizing on this market early on could help you gain an advantage in a market that is rapidly becoming competitive.